Today marks the first appearance one of three new characters being introduced to the Ginger Meggs universe in 2019: A young Australian boy named Rahul Jayasinha.

Rahul’s father was born in India, met his wife in Sri Lanka and moved to Australia to start their own medical practice. Now both Australian citizens, they had Rahul ten years after moving to Australia, making him a dinki di Aussie! He’s just moved house and so has just started at Ginger’s school.

Rahul loves nothing more than getting out in the sun and playing cricket — and giving Ginger a run for his money! He’s a little bit taller than the other boys, and can run faster than Tiger Kelly on a rampage.

The first appearance of Rahul occurs at the end of today’s Sunday strip, the second of a three-part continuation after Ginger is forced to stay in his bedroom and finish his homework before he’s allowed to go and play cricket with the boys.

Unfortunately, he arrives too late and the game is all wrapped up. He discovers they had invited the new kid to fill-in, but fast realised that he was so good, they wouldn’t mind having him on the team permanently!

Rahul will develop with the rest of the characters in the strip over time, and we’re excited to see him work his way into more storylines across the coming years. Every Aussie kid should be able to see themselves in the characters of Ginger Meggs. Stay tuned for our next introduction this year of a young indigenous Australian girl who plays music and gives the lads a run for their money on the sports field!

And of course, stay tuned for more adventures with the entire gang, every day at GoComics.com

A big note of thanks to my friend Dilruk Jayasinha for his advice on the character and his cultural heritage.

Introducing the first of 3 new faces moving to Ginger’s town in 2019... Penny Chieng! A whip-smart Malaysian Australian girl who gives Fitzzy a run for his money in all things academic.

Penny’s mum, a family lawyer, just got a new job in town and moved them in to a new place in Ginger’s neighbourhood. She’s starting at the school this week, and Minnie Peters will be showing her around.

Message: Dear Mr Chatfield,I've been reading Ginger Meggs since 1948 when I was three years old.Yesterday's strip was/is superb. It is on my notice board for all old, new and soon-to-be Australians to see and read.My sincere thanks for Ginger Meggs and for your dedicationBest regardsDr Tim(Melbourne)

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Thanks for the note, Tim! I’m glad you enjoyed the strip as much as I enjoyed drawing it. It runs every ANZAC Day and will do for the foreseeable.I made it to the dawn service in New York for ANZAC Day and was pleased to see a good turn out of young people proudly wearing their late relatives’ medals, as I was.Thanks for reading!- Jason

When I showed the children these two Ginger Meggs annuals, their reactions were quite intriguing. Many of the children recognised the character, and were surprised to see him appearing in a cartoon from ‘so long ago’. They seemed to think that the mischievous small boy was a relative newcomer to the cartoon world, and were amazed to discover that he actually dates back right to the 1920s!

Ginger Meggs may seem like quite a familiar figure - the mischievous boy is certainly recognisable in todays society! Yet he was born right back in 1921, when he first appeared in the first edition of the comic strip ‘Us Fellers’. His creator was Jimmy Bancks, and the comic was published in the Sunbeams pages of the Sunday Sun newspaper. Monty Grover, who was the chief editor of the Sunday Sun itself had asked a number of artists to draw a comic based around a group of boys and a girl. The boys would get into trouble, while the girl would get them out of it. Us Fellers was just one of the comics which was featured in the Sunbeams section, but by March 1922, it had become a permanent feature of the front cover.

Hey Meggsie fans!Question: if I put out a Ginger Meggs collection on Kindle, would you be interested in it?It would have custom panel-by-panel scrolling, and be available on phone, tablet and Kindle e-reader.Let me know here.Jason